Process of dyeing textiles



F K keb. 55389 E933, w. G. ,mam-T, JR

PROCESS oF DYEING TEXTILES Filed April fr, 1928 www ,of dyeing textiles and other `as copper and iron,

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CORPQMTION @F NEW EAMPSE PROCES @E DWH@ VEEXTB'ES pplicatlon led April 192e. Serial No'. ll.

l This invention relates to an art or process materials, and particularly to a process of deing adapted to maintain the constancy of e 'ect of certain dye liquors during exposure of the materials to for practice of the process. Y

lln the course oi experiments leading to the present invention, it has been found that the behavior of certain aeoted by exposure ation to contact with many of the metals such including those supposed to be relatively inert to the dyes used, such as aluminum and Monel metal. Consequently, dyes of desirable eciency satisfactorily employed in apparatus made of wood, glass, porcelain or other resistant material can not be used with that certainty of result necessary to maintenance ot standard colors ifthe apparatus presents such reactive metallic surfaces to the solution. 'llhe observed phenomena imply progressive chemical alteration of the dyes and demonstrate change o the color developed, impedance of dyeing action, and marked decrease of quantitative efficiency of standard coloration of the quantity of material as` compared with the quantity of dye, Dyes customarily employed with chrome mordants are particularly aected by the presence of the named metals. l

ln practice in a dye works it is not always possible to conne the dye liquors to inert wooden or vitreous vessels, since.; convenience and handling eiiiciency dictate the use of metallic pipes, pumps and adjuncts of the dye vats or carriers for the material.

l have discovered that the detrimental eects in question do not occur and that other advantages result when *the dyeing is conducted in the presence of metallic chromium, andwhen the dye liquor is confined to contact with inert containersand adjuncts only, except such as may be made of or coated with metallic chromium. When the apparatus employed is so constructed, the dyeing operation may be conducted and controlled with certainty as to both the dyeing action and the ultimate color of the product obtained. ll have also found that under these conditions be dyed; and to apparatus eectivein and dye substances is sensibly`- during the dyeing oper' the dye coloration is takenY up bythe material with substantial uniformity from a dye solution varying from an initial, relatively high concentration (through the gradual dilution resulting from selective taking up of .color substance by the material being dyed) substantially to the point of exhaustion, without appreciable variation in the dyed product obtained.

For an example, in the practical dyeing of Wool and woolen orvworsted yarns, the present invention has advantageous application in actual practice. rlhis will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing of one instance typical only of kinds of apparatus suitable for use in spool lor beam dyeing of slubbings or yarns, in which:

Fig. l is a vertical section through a, dye vat; l Fig. 2 is an same;

Fig. 3 is a detail cross-section of a corner of the dye vat; and

Fig. 4 is a detai line 4 4 of Fig. 3, and typical dye liquor conduit and pump.

lin-the drawing, Fig. 1 shows at l a dye vat having a bottom 2 and a raised or false bottom 3 under which is a space a.. rlhe vat may conveniently be made of wood according to common practice. 'An outlet opens at the center of the false bottom 3 and leads through `conduit 6 to,I a circulating pump 7, which reend elevation of a part of the of a metallic turns the dye solution, through conduit 81 and inlet 9, into the space d.

'lhe ialse bottom 3 is provided with a plurality of openings corresponding to the num ber of carriers, spools or bea-ms which the vat is to receive. rlhese openings may be pro- Ivided with metallic bushings l0 which entenddownwardly to the bottom 2 Vthrough space l Where they are provided with lateral openl longitudinal section on Y es" l ings 11 to admit dye solution. to the interior and with annular anges to of the bushing, v l

of the tubular perforated receive A the end beam, spool or 'other hollow carrier- 12 for the i yarn or material to be dyed'e Any suitable means'may be resorted to to hold the beams or spools` on their seats on bushings 10.

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.The carrier 12, the interior surfaces of the vat, the bushings and other parts which come into contact with the dye solution may vnal plating of metal be relied upon to carry the useful chromium surface, and so much of these parts as are not inert, or all of the surfaces are recommended to be coated, by electro-plating or otherwise, with a substantial laver of metallic chromium. For example, the vat may be lined with sheet copper 21, having an interic chromium 22 on the surfaces which comes into contact with the dye solution, as shown in Fig. 3. The other metallic parts or surfaces are likewise recommended to be-made of chromium or coated with chromium, as by electro-plating. Conduits such as 6 and 8 and the casing of pump 7 which are commonly made of bronze may advantageously be lined with chromium as shown in detail in Fig. 4; conveniently the liquid-contacting surfaces of such parts and of the rotors of-pumps and barrels and heads of the material carriers are electro-plated before assembly.

In a specific instance of carrying out the present invention, with respect to the dyeing of Wool, for example, the dye solution may contain a dye substance which is ordinaril level standing above the tops of the carriers 12. The carriers loaded with yarn (chrome mordanted as usual with potassium bichromate, for example) may be in position when the d e solution is admitted or may be inserte into a full vat. Alternatively, unmordanted material may be treated in an acid bath, and after thorough treatment of the material in the dye liquora chromium salt solution may be added, either to the partly cooled bath or to the bath at a boiling temperature. The mordant in solution form, comprising a slowly decomposing chormate, ma be run in with the dye liquor.

n either case the dye solution is heated to its optimum temperature and circulated through the carriers and the yarns by pump 7 passing upwardly through conduit 8 through space 4 and openings 11J into the interior of the bushings 10, thence through 'the perforated spools and outwardly through the yarn wound thereon. The solution returns through conduit 6 to the pump. When the exhaustion of the dye b the yarn has proceeded to a predetermine stage at which the desired coloration of the yarn has been accomplished, the yarn carriers may7 be removed and the yarn dried and otherwise treated in the usual way. -Any other mode of effecting contact between dye liquor and material to be dyed may be resorted to.

It is found that the procedure of thus effecting contact of mordanted material to be dyed and the dye solution in the presence of metallic chromium results in accurate and controllable takeup of the dye substance thereon, articular with the so-called chrome colors. he color of the dye substance is unaltered in its applicationto the yarn and remains true throughout a single dyeing operation and also with respect to dyeing successive batches in a given dye solution. The rate and degree of takeup of color by the yarn persist as substantially constant factors throu h out the dyeing treatment, with a given ye solution, to a point nearer complete exhaustion of the dye liquor than will be the case if dyeing is performed in the absence of metallic chromium. Consequently the color of dyed products may be kept constant whether treatment is with fresh dye liquor or with a solution which has been used over and over and has more nearly approached complete exhaustion than is possible when the reaction is performed in inert surroundin s.

I attribute the behavior o the dye solutions under the recommended treatment to the effect of metallic chromium on the takeup of the color component and on the reaction between the mordant, the material dyed and the color component of the liquor. The chemistry of the chemical reaction between these reagents and chromium is obscure, and I do not undertake to state its theory, but I surmise from the observed low rate of loss of chromium from the contact surfaces that the exlanation of the reaction is to be found either 1n adsorption on the chromium of a released nascent component inhibitive to continuance of the fixation of coloring matter of the reacting dye and mordant components; or alternatively, that chromium Ais a catalyst for the chemical reaction at and on the dye-taking textile.

A further advantage of apparatus constructed as herein recommended lies in the capacity to use chromium lined ap aratus ,with both acid and alkaline dye liquors. Chromium is inert to alkaline solutions, and the apparatus may be employed on occasion for dyeing cotton or other vegetable textiles and rayon or other artificial fibres with the customary alkaline solutions.

A consequence of practice as recommended is that a given quantity of dye substance will dye to standard color a substantially greater quantity of the material dyed than is possible under conditions otherwise identical, except carrying out the operations in a wooden or glass vat in one case, and in the presence of chromium in the other case. lt will be understood that the dye liquor may be activated Vto cause deposit of the coloring matter on organic material in some other Way than by mordanting the material previous to immersion in the dye liquor, for example by successively treating the material with acidulated dye liquor and after-treating with a-mordant; or by adding a suitable activating reagent to the dye liquor simultaneously with imv mersion of the material in the liquor.

l claim:

l. Process of dyeing textile materials which comprises mordantin'g the material with a chromium compound and wetting the material with a dye liquor in the presence of substantial surfaces of metallic chromium wet by the liquoru 2. Process of dyeing textiles and like materials, which comprises wetting the 'material with a dye liquor containing an alizarin dyestud', said liquor being in contact with a surface of metallic chromium.

3. Process of dyeing organic materials with dyes containing certain alizarin derivatives in a dye liquor activated in respect to xation on the material of coloring matter from dye by the presence of a mordant containing chromium', comprising bringing into contact the material to be dyed and the dye liquor, the dye liquor also being in Contact with a substantial surface ofthe metal chromium.

Signed by me at Wilton, N. H., this fourth day of April, 1928.

WILLAM G. ABBOTT, JR. 

